Chapter 725
Brilliant!
It was completely unexpected and came too suddenly. Even though Ms. Liu noticed something was wrong and immediately warned them, most of the dozens of people around them, except for a few, didn't react at all. They had been focusing their attention on the magical formation and had let their guard down.
This was deliberately created by the guards within the formation. Illusion is their advantage, but they don't necessarily have to wait for people to enter before taking action. Those inside can see outside, but those outside cannot see inside, so they are always in a position of initiative.
Arrows shot out, too fast, with a piercing sound of air being torn apart. The splattering sound of arrows piercing bodies was chilling. Blood splattered and screams filled the air. People who were just moments before amazed by entering and exiting the formation had their expressions frozen or distorted. In just one volley of arrows, nearly half of the casualties were caused in the blink of an eye!
These chivalrous heroes who came here are all highly skilled; if they are too careless, they could lose their lives in a moment of carelessness.
The moment the unexpected happened, Liu, the heroine, spoke up to warn him, her expression changing. With a soft, melodious sword cry, a snow-white longsword, as white as autumn water, was drawn from its sheath, spitting out a foot-long, icy blade. With a flick of her wrist, it transformed into afterimages, like snowflakes blooming. The sword energy permeated the surrounding area of several feet, blocking or severing the arrows that came straight at her. Some arrows were even deflected by her longsword and sent flying back far away.
At the same time, she grabbed the shoulder of the girl in white beside her and flew backward, her expression filled with surprise and uncertainty, her face frosty.
As a master of the Innate Realm, her cultivation was still in the middle range at this level. Under her action, even though the arrows came unexpectedly, she still managed to protect the people within a few feet around her. However, there were only six or seven people. Before, the people were too scattered and she couldn't reach them all. She couldn't take care of too many people. While blocking the arrows and protecting the people as she retreated, she also reminded the others to stay away from the edge of the formation.
All of this happened so fast that no one expected it.
There was also a master of innate skill, Wu Daxia, who reacted extremely quickly. He reacted almost the moment Liu Nvxia noticed the abnormality. Already on guard, he wielded a long, black metal staff with impenetrable skill, blocking many attacks and saving several people from retreating.
When they retreated to a safe distance from the illusion array, their faces turned extremely grim. In that short time, less than a third of the original dozens of people had retreated to a safe distance!
In front of them, near the formation, lay a dozen or so corpses, all hit in vital areas by arrows, not yet completely dead, their bodies twitching instinctively.
Some people were still screaming and struggling to retreat. These people were lucky enough to avoid fatal blows, but the casualties were all heavy.
However, not all those who came here were counterfeiters; a few alert and quick-witted individuals dodged the arrow attacks and swiftly retreated to a safe distance.
Once they reached a safe distance, Liu, the female knight, put the girl in white down, patted the slightly flustered girl on the shoulder, and subconsciously exchanged a glance with Wu, the knight beside her. The two of them, without saying a word, rushed towards the formation.
They understood each other's meaning: to save people.
As members of the martial arts world, chivalry comes first. They can't do anything about the dead, but they can't ignore the injured in front of them.
Fortunately, they were both highly skilled and fast, and before they knew whether there would be another volley of arrows, they managed to bring the scattered people who had been hit back to a safe distance.
Before, everyone was laughing and joking around with the illusion array, but in the blink of an eye, less than half of the dozens of people remained. Half of them were lying on the ground with serious injuries, and even those who were unharmed looked terrified.
"Save people!" Without time to think, Ms. Liu, who was in a safe position, reminded him and rushed to check on the injured person.
The screams and cries of the dozen or so injured people were too painful to bear.
"It hurts so much! An arrow has pierced my heart. I can't live. Just give me a quick death."
"I've been shot in the groin, I can't be a man anymore, just let me die."
"I only had an arrow wound in my thigh, there's still a chance to save me..."
Following Liu's reminder and demonstration, the others who were still shaken also reacted and joined in treating the injured. As the saying goes, medicine and martial arts are inseparable. They were all from the martial arts world and had plenty of experience in treating injuries. Simple bandaging and treatment were a piece of cake for them. They tried their best not to give up on anyone. Those with serious injuries were knocked unconscious, and whether they survived depended on luck.
After a brief period of panic, the situation calmed down. Most people were still shaken, and even the female knight-errant Liu and the great knight-errant Wu looked grim. Fortunately, the anticipated second round of sneak attacks did not occur.
Holding an arrow she had taken from the wounded man, which gleamed coldly in the sunlight, Liu said in a deep voice, "What a vicious arrow!"
The metal arrow in her hand was only a foot and a half long, had no fletching, and had a triangular spiral arrowhead that sent chills down one's spine at first glance.
"This is truly vicious. It's clearly an armor-piercing crossbow bolt with extremely strong penetrating power. Once it enters the flesh, it spins and tears, causing damage several times greater than that of an ordinary arrow. Not only is it difficult to remove, but if it's not treated properly, the wound alone will make it hard to survive!" Master Wu said in a deep voice, looking at the arrow in her hand.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a person lying unconscious beside him. He felt sympathy but also lingering fear. The person had been pierced through the thigh by a crossbow bolt, and the muscles, bones and tendons were twisted. The leg was obviously useless. Fortunately, there were two innate masters present, otherwise they would not have been able to save their lives.
At this moment, someone couldn't help but speak up in alarm: "The person who launched the sneak attack actually used crossbows, and armor-piercing arrows at that! These are forbidden weapons, and there are clearly quite a few of them. Could it be that the other party has a background with the imperial court or the military? Otherwise, how could they possess such weapons? Their background is unfathomable. Should we really continue investigating?"
The person who spoke clearly had already decided to back down. They were just low-level figures in the martial arts world, and no matter how righteous they were, they couldn't afford to provoke a force with a government background. It was one thing to be unafraid of death, but dying meaninglessly would be a loss. Moreover, using crossbows against them was too much of a bully.
With a furrowed brow, Lady Liu said coldly, "We cannot make hasty judgments. Although it is forbidden for civilians to privately possess crossbows, there are always some audacious individuals who build and hide them. Do not speak carelessly, or you may bring disaster upon yourself."
He's a seasoned veteran; he always needs evidence, and he understands the saying "trouble comes from the mouth."
People in the martial arts world may seem carefree and unrestrained, and they wouldn't provoke the imperial court unless absolutely necessary. It's a simple principle: a person who has practiced martial arts for many years would find it difficult to defend themselves against a group of armored soldiers wielding bows and crossbows. They didn't consider these issues; they were simply investigating the woman's disappearance based on clues. If they could uncover the truth and uphold justice, that was enough; there was no need to create unnecessary complications.
His gaze swept over the horrific scene, and Wu Daxia frowned as he looked at Liu and asked, "The formation ahead is too dangerous. We have no idea what's inside, and there are people hiding there waiting for us to die. What should we do next? Should we stay here and try to find a way to get deeper, or wait to see if there are other people coming to help us deal with this?"
The girl in white hesitated, seemingly lost in thought or influenced by someone. She tugged at Liu's sleeve and whispered, "Uncle-Master, the current situation is probably beyond our control. This place may be the key to the mass disappearances of women, and there's likely a hidden truth behind it. We're just people from the martial world, but the Yu Hua Kingdom's court is also investigating this matter. Why don't we send someone to deliver a message to the Yu Hua Kingdom's court? They'll surely send a large number of people to investigate. In that case, they'll wipe out the entire force. Even with formations, it would be difficult to stop the court's power, wouldn't it?"
Although her voice was soft, it was still heard by those around her, who all cast surprised glances at the girl in white, while also pondering what she might be doing. This was indeed a good idea.
The girl in white made this suggestion because a figure flashed through her mind that she didn't know how to face. She thought to herself that, given his personality and style, he would probably do the same in this situation. Why bother with all the trouble and risk if you can save yourself the trouble?
Lady Liu, still holding the vicious crossbow bolt, hesitated upon hearing this, but then gently shook her head, looking towards the illusion array, and said, "That is indeed the most correct course of action, but it's unnecessary."
Before the girl in white could ask why, she continued, "We all got here through clues, so the news will probably spread quickly. The Yuhua Kingdom's court will know sooner or later, and may already be sending people. So we don't need to actively pass on the message. As people of the martial world, it's best to have less contact with the court. It's not to avoid being labeled as the court's lackeys, but getting involved with the court could make us easy targets. Those scholars sitting in the imperial court are far more intelligent than we can handle. Sometimes we're even bought off by them and end up helping them count the money."
The crowd exchanged glances, realizing that what she said was true. No matter how clever a person who practices martial arts all day long is, how can they compare to those scholars who are always studying how to scheme against others?
Then, Lady Liu's eyes flashed as she said, "Someone will definitely come after us, whether they are fellow martial artists or people from the Yu Hua Kingdom's court, provided that the person behind them doesn't have any additional plans to divert attention from here."
She paused for a moment, then continued, "Now that we've come this far, we're likely close to the truth. Despite what happened before, there's no reason for us to give up. If we retreat now, they might just move on. We must seize the opportunity and not give them a chance to escape."
"But what can we do with just these few people? Let me make this clear, it's not that I'm scared. Losing my head is just a scar the size of a bowl. It's that I don't want to die in a meaningless way. We've already gained a preliminary understanding of the wonders of that formation ahead. There are still people hiding inside, waiting for their chance to strike. We don't know how many there are. What should we do?" Wu Daxia scratched his head, extremely conflicted.
Looking towards the direction of the illusion array ahead, Lady Liu squinted and said, "We've all been thinking too much about the array ahead, which is normal, since we've never experienced anything like it before. But if we calm down and think about it carefully, the so-called array isn't without its problems!"
“Why do you say that, Miss Liu? Stop beating around the bush,” Wu said, his eyes lighting up. He knew he wasn’t good at thinking things through, so he knew Miss Liu must have her reasons.
Wanting to lighten the mood with a laugh, but considering the current situation was inappropriate, Ms. Liu suppressed her smile and said, "In the rush earlier, when we retreated and set up the formation, I used my sword to deflect a few arrows and returned the way I came, and I vaguely heard a few screams!"
She was, after all, a master of innate skill. With a single sword strike, she could cleave a tree a hundred feet away as thick as a bowl. It was not surprising that she had accomplished this in such a seemingly hasty manner.
Although Master Wu was not good at long-range attacks, he was confident that he could do it. He just hadn't reacted to the sudden situation earlier. Now, a thought struck him, and he asked, "And then?"
"Then, it's very simple. Putting aside the formation factor, it proves that the guys hiding inside aren't that powerful. They don't dare to confront us head-on!" Lady Liu said with certainty.
He opened his mouth, then said with a troubled expression, "Big Socks, that's true, and I know the people inside used crossbows to ambush us, they're definitely not any formidable opponents. But the problem is, that damned array formation is impossible to shake off!"
At this moment, Wu Daxia, in his chaotic state, couldn't even bother with polite forms of address due to his straightforward nature.
“Who says I can’t let go?” Lady Liu said confidently as she turned around.
Amidst everyone's astonishment, she said with a burning gaze, "Through our probing just now, we've gained a preliminary understanding of that formation. Indeed, a single step can make all the difference, as if entering a completely different environment. Moreover, the environment changes at every interval. However, based on our previous testing, the formation itself poses no danger. We were merely scaring ourselves. To put it bluntly, it's an illusion. The people hidden inside are simply using the illusion to make us hesitant to act."
She paused for a moment and said in a deep voice, "If the people inside no longer have the advantage of the illusion, would we still be afraid of them?"
"Could it be that you, Lady Liu, already know how to break the formation?" Wu asked in surprise.
Shaking her head, Miss Liu continued to look at the illusion array and said, "Master Wu, you overestimate me. Of course, I don't have such methods. Although we can't directly break the array and make the opponent lose the array advantage, we can ignore the interference that the array itself causes us. It may affect our strength, but in this way, the danger to the people inside will be reduced by a lot!"
“Miss Liu, we are all rough men, unlike you who are so intelligent and kind. We really didn’t understand. Just tell us directly,” said Master Wu, looking troubled.
She was at her wit's end; they still hadn't grasped the point. Liu, the heroine, was also in a difficult position. She simply stated bluntly, "Everyone here has practiced martial arts for years. The ability to see in all directions and hear from all sides is just the basics..."
At this point, she realized that she possessed innate cultivation, a skill not everyone could achieve. She coughed lightly and continued, "I imagine most of you have some knowledge of sound-based location, otherwise, wouldn't you be lambs to the slaughter if you encountered enemies at night? What I mean is, based on our previous investigations, the illusion created by that formation only affects our vision, not our hearing. Think about it, if we enter it blindfolded, when the illusion disappears, how easy would it be for the person hiding inside to launch a sneak attack? We don't need to think about how to break the formation; we just need to go with the flow based on its characteristics!"
"Brilliant! How come I didn't think of that? I'm not bragging, but even if my cultivation isn't at the Innate Realm, I can easily deal with any number of sneak attacks if I close my eyes. In that case, the so-called formation is just for show. I was just being stubborn before," Wu Daxia immediately clapped his hands and exclaimed. He was certainly not stupid for cultivating to the Innate Realm; he just hadn't realized it yet.
Looking at the area covered by the array ahead, it was no longer a den of dragons and tigers, but rather it seemed eager to try. Damn it, this is something that can be broken so easily. I was hesitant before, but now that I have a way to deal with it, I'll kill them seven times over!
The girl in white looked at her master, who was speaking eloquently, with admiration, exclaiming that she had learned a lot and wondered when she would be able to be so skilled. At the same time, she wondered to herself how the person she longed for would handle such a situation. With his abilities, he would probably treat it as easily as going home.
...(End of this chapter)